Ogden Phipps S.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While Clairiere (Curlin) and Nest (Curlin) are in the spotlight, attracting most of the attention in the runup to the GII Shuvee S. on Sunday, Played Hard (Into Mischief) is, well, lurking. Stonestreet Stable's Clairiere has won consecutive Grade Is to climb to the top of the older dirt filly division. Nest, last year's 3-year-old filly champ co-owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, will make her first start of 2023. Meanwhile, Played Hard, trained by Phillip Bauer for Rigney Racing, has been...

ELMONT, NY - Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin) successfully defended her title with a late surge to nail Search Results (Flatter) in dramatic fashion by a half-length in Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont Park. Played Hard (Into Mischief) finished third. Clairiere joins Take D' Tour (2006-07), Sightseek (2003-04) and Heatherten (1984-85) as back-to-back winners of the prestigious 'Win and You're In' event for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. "I'm unbelievably proud of her," said winning trainer Steve Asmussen after registering his fourth Phipps victory in five years. "What a...

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has not won the GI Ogden Phipps S. since 1996, the year the legendary Serena's Song (Rahy) got the job done when the race was contested as the Hempstead H. The 87-year-old will hope that streak comes to an end when he saddles 2022 GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Secret Oath (Arrogate) in this year's Phipps, one of nine elite-level races slated to take place during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The winner earns a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - By trainer Fausto Gutierrez's calculation, a clunker every once in a while surely does not tarnish champion Letruska (Super Saver)'s glittering string of accomplishments. When last seen in competition, the 6-year-old mare was running last as the 3-5 favorite in the GI Ogden Phipps S. June 11 at Belmont Park. As usual, she set the pace, but on that afternoon could not finish and was passed by the four others in the field. Gutierrez said that Letruska wasn't herself that afternoon, possibly a nervous reaction to...

Fausto Gutierrez can remember staring up at the television two years ago watching the GI Apple Blossom Handicap. He was back home in Mexico as Mike Smith piloted Midnight Bisou into the winner's circle with Steve Asmussen looking on. Midnight Bisou would go on to claim championship honors that year, joining the impressive list of Stellar Wind, Forever Unbridled, Untapable, Close Hatches, Havre de Grace, Zenyatta, Azeri and Gourmet Girl as Apple Blossom heroines of this century to also hold an Eclipse title. Gutierrez knew it was a race exclusively...

Peter Callahan's Eclipse Award winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), the joint second choice on the morning line for Saturday's $500,000 GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont Park, will be scratched from the race after spiking a fever. "Unfortunately Swiss Skydiver had a 104 fever this morning. We are a scratch," trainer Ken McPeek tweeted early Friday. "We've treated her to knock down the fever and will regroup later in the season." Last year's GI Preakness S. upsetter returned from her winter's rest to romp by 2 3/4 lengths in the GI...

Dismissed at 14-1 in Saturday's six-horse GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont, Steve Asmussen trainee She's a Julie (Elusive Quality) rediscovered her best form to narrowly defeat favored Point of Honor (Curlin) and earn a guaranteed spot into the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff later this season. Ollie's Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}) had to settle for third after chasing hot splits early. She's a Julie took the GI La Troienne S. on the GI Kentucky Oaks undercard some 13 months ago, but hadn't returned to the winner's circle since then and...

In these contentious times, at least the cavaliers of the turf seem to clinging to suitably knightly ethics. Last weekend, Honor A.P. (Honor Code) and Code Of Honor (Noble Mission) made a righteous stand on either coast; and Saturday's main event, the GI Ogden Phipps S., now adds Point Of Honor (Curlin) to this overflow of rectitude. In her case, however, the duplication of honors would primarily encompass trainer George Weaver, whose success with Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Carter H. at Belmont last weekend was his first at...

With divisional heavies the likes of Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and the comebacking Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) all eye-balling a potential clash in the GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill Downs in two weeks' time, Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. may lack a 'marquee' name, per se, but it remains a competitive affair that offers the winner a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 7. Ollie's Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), winner of last year's GI Clement L. Hirsch S.,...

Fans at Monmouth Park for Saturday's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational will be treated to a look at a multiple Grade I winner on the undercard, as Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing's Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) towers over seven rivals in the GIII Molly Pitcher S. Never out of the trifecta in 15 outings, the dark bay captured the GI Santa Anita Oaks before running third in last spring's GI Kentucky Oaks. Romping in the GII Mother Goose S., she rebounded from a dull third in the GI...